Open cartridge of large dimensions for pneumatic conveying



Sept. 17, 1968 J. c. GOUYOU-BEAUCHAMPS ETAL 3,401,902

OPEN CARTRIDGE OF LARGE DIMENSIONS FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING Filed Feb. 1Q, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS JACQUES C. GOUYOU-BEAUCHAMPS SIMON A. CYNOBER Se t. 17,1968 J. c. eouyou-BEAucHAMPs ETAL 3,401,902

OPEN CARTRIDGE OF LARGE DIMENSIONS FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING Filed Feb. 10, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS SIMON A. CYNOBER ATTORNEY JACQUES C. GOUYOU-BEAUCHAMPS 3,401 ,QQZ

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 v INVENTORS JACQUES c; 'GOUYOU-BEAUCHAMPS SIMON A. CYNOBER l u f ATTORNEY S 17 19 J. c. GOUYOU-BEAUCHAMPS ET AL OPEN CARTRIDGE OF LARGE DIMENSIONS FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING Filed Feb. -l0, 1967 United States 3,401,902 OPEN CARTRIDGE OF LARGE DIMENSIONS FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING Jacques C. Gouyou-Beauchamps, Ville dAvray, and Simon A. Cynober, Paris, France, assignors to Saunier Duval Setri, Bezons, France, a French company Filed Feb. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 615,197 Claims priority, application France, Feb. 18, 1966,

4 Claims. C1. 243-34 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to an open cartridge of large dimensions and, in particular, of any desired length for conveying relatively bulky articles, such as mailbags, in either direction in a pneumatic pipe.

Description of the prior art The constantly increasing importance of postal traflic has already led the responsible authorities to become interested in the pneumatic conveying of letters and packets by means of cartridges of medium volume. Thus, to mention only one example, cartridges having an effective length and diameter of about 550 and 335 millimeters respectively, equipped at each of their ends with a sealing collar and with four casters disposed along two orthogonal diameters, have already been caused to travel in circular pipes having an internal diameter of 450 millimeters and having curves with a radius of 9 meters. Such cartridges permit a thousand stacked letters of standard size to be conveyed in a container.

This solution has passed its tests for the dimensions and capacities indicated. Nevertheless, it appears that it is not completely free of disadvantages and, above all, that it could only with difficulty be extended to pipes having relatively large diameters and including curves with a relatively small radius. Actually, because of their longitudinal dimensions, the casters have the disadvantage of reducing the effective volume of the cartridge and, because of their small diameter leading to rapid rotation as well as of their sensitivity to shocks, that of suffering relatively severe wear, apart from the fact that they are comparatively noisy.

If rolling is prevented, an increase in the dimensions of the pipes and cartridges leads to a problem of rapid wear of the linings. Actually, as a rough approximation, the volume and hence the useful load of a cartridge increase as the third power of the diameter, whereas in the arrangements used in the past, the surfaces of relatively narrow linings simply increased proportionally to the diameter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The main object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for a pneumatic pipe of large dimensions which is freed, to a large extent, of the disadvantages indicated and which, in particular, can be used in pipes, for

atent O example, circular pipes of large diameters of the order of at least 600 millimeters with curves which may fall to a radius of 6 meters, for the rapid conveying, in large quantities, of bulky articles such as mailbags.

In addition, the invention relates to such an open cartridge, the loading and unloading of which can be effected directly from above without having to manipulate the cartridge itself from the loading and unloading floors.

For this purpose, according to the invention, such a cartridge comprises two end heads acting as sealed pistons, the external profile of which fits the internal profile of the pipe, and a plurality of intermediate members, the profile of which is at least approximately that of the lower half of the heads, each of these various members being on the one hand composed of a rigid internal frame and of a covering known per se, -with a resilient cover and a sliding cover, and one the other hand interconnected by re silient articulated means.

The invention is characterized by a new and special method of coupling of said intermediate members, in which said resilient articulated means comprise a gimbal ring coupling combined with resilient means of conventional type, such as coil springs.

It will be shown later on how the major difficulty mentioned above, the rapid wear of the coverings, is solved by an increase in the bearing surface and an articulated structure of the cartridge which enables the effective length thereof to be increased at will for a pipe of given dimensions and having a given minimum radius of curvature, which would obviously be impossible with a rigid moving object. It is thus possible to ensure that a cartridge carrying mailbags only represents a load of 15 to 20 grams per square centimeter for the pipe enclosing it.

The above described arrangement is of particular interest in the case where the objects to be transported, for instance, mailbags of the Post Office, are of standardized dimensions, which makes it possible to relate the radius of the curves in the pipe to those of the said objects.

In the latter case, in a known manner, the head and body members of the cartridge are preferably each provided, at the bottom of the internal face of their frame, with a channel iron or the like which helps to lower the centre of gravity of each member and, in the case of a cylindrical cartridge, to prevent any movement of r0- tation about the longitudinal axis thereof.

The resilient articulation means between members of the cartridge, preferably equipped with stops limiting the relative angular displacement of any two consecutive members, should enable the cartridge on the one hand to tend to resume automatically its normal shape after passing through a bend in the pipe, and on the other hand to be stopped without appreciable deformation or ramming, by braking on a cushion of air under compression.

The unit lengths of the various members, heads and body, of the cartridge are determined as a function of the minimum radius of the bends in the pipe, in such a manner that said various members, which are rigid in the longitudinal direction, are only subjected to deformations which are permissible for their coverings in the transverse direction.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following detailed description of some examples of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1, 3 and 3a are diagrammatic views, in perspective, of cartridges of various known types, respectively;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cartridge according to the invention;

FIG. 2a is a detail perspective view, limited to gimbal rings connecting two consecutive members in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an axial section through a cartridge in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section through a cartridge of the same embodiment as in FIG. 2, the section being taken along the line VV in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference will first be made to FIGS. 4 and 5 to describe the general characteristics of the cartridge according to the invention, the reference numerals used being found again in the other figures relating to specific embodiments. A cartridge has a head 1 at each of its ends. Since the two heads are identical, it will be sufficient to describe only one. Each of the hollow heads 1, in the general shape of what is called an Alsatian cradle with the hood raised (in the case of a pipe of circular section) has a composite wall, defined later, entirely of revolution about a main longitudinal axis X-X. In FIG. 4, this wall comprises successively, starting from the free end, a first portion having a meridian line at least substantially parabolic, 11, provided with an axial hole 11a, the purpose of which will be seen later, and a second portion, precisely cylindrical, 12, comprising a lower halfcylinder 121 and an upper half-cylinder 122, the second preferably being somewhat shorter than the first, although these two half-cylinders may also be of the same length, Said wall of the head 1 comprises, from the inside outwards, a rigid frame In defining the effective hollow of the head, a flexible and resilient covering 112, of elastomer and/or cellular material, for example of foam rubber, and finally an outer cover which is likewise flexible 10, made of an abrasion-resistant material, having a satisfactory coeflicient of sliding and relatively quiet, for example of brushed nylon, defining, in particular, the transverse dimensions of the head. The external diameter of the cylindrical portion 12 of the covered head is substantially equal to the internal diameter of the pneumatic tube (or pipe) in which the cartridge is adapted to travel, the covering of the head acting as a piston ring in an engine cylinder. The tapered portion of the head is adapted to facilitate its penetration into the curves in the pipe. In order to complete the description of the head 1, it may comprise, along the axis XX, an attachment hook 1 meter, of a type known per se fixed in a sealed housing, and enabling the cartridge to be attached to one or more others in order to make up a real train."

The two heads 1 of the cartridge are connected to one another by a plurality of intermediate members 2, known as cartridge bodies. Since these bodies are identical, it will be sufficient to describe only one. Each of the hollow bodies 2, substantially semi-cylindrical in shape (in the case of a pipe of circular section) has a composite wall of revolution about the main axis X-X of the cartridge. This wall consists of three thicknesses, 2a, 2b, 2c, of the same nature, the same shape and the same dimensions as the homologous thicknesses 1a ,1b and 1c respectively, of the cylindrical portion 12 of the heads 1.

The heads 1 and the bodies 2 are further shaped and adapted in such a manner as to be resiliently articulated one to the other in a manner which will be seen later on. The angular relative displacement about axis X-X of the successive members of the cartridge is limited by stops, the position of which is selected according to the most advantageous compromise between the length of the rigid members of the cartridge and the radius of the curves in the pipe to be passed through.

All the members of the cartridge, heads and bodies, may be provided internally, along their lower generatrix, with a channel iron with dropped edges 1d or 2d, inverted and fixed to the frames 1a or 2a respectively, of each member. This sectional reinforcement has several functions, one relating to the mutual articulation of the members which varies according to the form of construction of said members and which will be explained later on, another being to contribute to maximum lowering of the center of gravity of the member, another being simply to carry hooks, known per se, enabling the fixing of articles such as mailbags placed directly in the hollow portion of the cartridge. The bags are separated from said section iron and from the bottom of the cartridge by a flexible floor cover 3, for example of brushed nylon, provided internally over the whole length of the cartridge, fixed in position, at each side of the sectional irons, to the frames of the members of the cartridge and which has a certain amount of play between these in order to'take up, without being subjected to any stress, the angular spacing or variations in spacing liable to develop between these members. This floor cover also serves to protect the articulation members, which will be described later on, as regards their uncovered portions or those which may become uncovered. Finally, the bags may be fastened, if necessary, by means of straps 1e or 2e secured to rings 1 or 2f attached to the frames of the members of the cartridge. The bags may even be covered by an awning (not illustrated) secured, for example, to the same rings.

In general, the various members of the cartridge are, as already stated, articulated to one another in a resilient manner, the line of articulation constituting a sort of spine along the lower generatrices of the frames of said members. Various examples of embodiments of this spine will now be described.

In a known embodiment which forms the subject of FIGURE 1, the spine of the cartridge consists of a spiral spring 4, with contiguous turns, housed in the sectional irons 1a or 2d aforesaid and fixed at each of its ends to the frame of a driving head 1. In this example, the various members, heads and bodies, are not terminated by straight sections but by curves which may be defined in the following manner. Each of these curves may be considered as being, on a given first member, the section line necessary to enable a second member, adjacent to the first, to be able to assume all the positions such that the sectional iron 1d or 2d of the second member describes a cone having as its axis the sectional iron 1d or 2d of the first, the apex angle of said cone being determined by the length of said members of the cartridge and by the radius of the curves in the pipe to be traversed thereby. The border of the members, without any covering but equipped with reinforcements, constitute the stops which limit the angular spacing between two consecutive members of the cartridge.

In an embodiment according to the invention, which forms the subject of FIGS. 2 and 2a as well as 4 and S, the members are connected in pairs by symmetrical articulated couplings which are gimbal rings in the example illustrated. Each half-coupling 1g-2g, equipped with stops lit-2h adapted to limit the relative angular displacement of two consecutive members of the cartridge, is secured to a support 1i2i, itself housed inside the corresponding sectional iron 111-211, and rigidly connected thereto, the necessary resilience being afforded at each half-coupling by means of longitudinal coil springs 1j-2j and 1k-2k. In this example, the edges of the members, again without coverings, may be cut along straight sections. The gaps between consecutive rigid members 1-2 are occupied by flexible intervening members such as bellows or concertina members 4 (see in particular FIG. 4), secured to the adjacent rigid members 12 by internal straps 4a. The bellows 4 which ensure the continuity of the structure are substantially semi-cylindrical in shape like the rigid members 2 and are provided with coverings in their central lateral region.

In another embodiment (not the object of the invention) which forms the subject of FIG. 3, the rigid members 1-2 are interconnected as a whole by a single spring as in the first example. But each rigid member 1-2 comprises, centered on the lower generatrix of its frame and on each terminal section, a recess 11-21 which may be substantially rectangular in shape, for example, permitting overriding (in one direction and in the other) of advanced portions or wings of the contiguous frames, which two frames can then slide one on the other.

It is likewise possible to provide for consecutive members to fit one inside the other without the necessity for cutting. It is sufficient (example not illustrated) for each member to terminate at one of its ends with a slight constriction, each constricted end engaging in the associated end without any constriction of the following member; in this case, one of the heads 1 has a constriction and the other does not. It will be seen that in this case, two consecutive members, overlapping in one direction only, slide one on the other in the manner of fish scales.

In the last examples of embodiment, the frames, at least at their front ends, are of a semi-flexible elastomer and/or plastics material, enabling the overlapping surfaces to be slightly deformed when passing through curves in the pipe.

In each of these examples, it is likewise possible to provide discontinuous means of articulation. In any case, the coverings of the members 1-2 are discontinued before the zones liable to overlap. As for the stops, they are provided either on the couplings or on the internal face of the frames themselves, as the case may be.

The cartridge according to the invention has been described with reference to examples of embodiment which have been selected to facilitate the understanding of its characteristic features but which should not be interpreted as limitative. Numerous modifications or adaptations may actually be conceived by one skilled in the art without therefore departing from the scope of the invention.

Thus, in particular, the cross-section of the cartridge may be of any shape other than circular, the section of the pneumatic pipe being modified in consequence.

In the specific case of a square or rectangular section, the spine of the cartridge, which no longer risks turning about itself, may be made lighter.

What we claim is:

1. An open cartridge of large dimensions, and in particular of any desired length, for conveying relatively bulky articles such as mailbags in either direction in a pneumatic pipe, comprising two end heads acting as sealed pistons, the external profile of each of said end heads fitting to the internal profile of said pipe, a plurality of intermediate bodies between the end heads, the cross-section of each of said intermediate bodies being at least that of the lower half of said end heads, said end heads and intermediate bodies each consisting of an internal rigid frame covered with a resilient cover and a sliding cover interconnected by resilient articulated means, said resilient articulated means comprising a gimbal ring coupling including two parts mounted for angular displacement with respect to each other, each of said two parts having an individual axis and being secured to a corresponding support means through longitudinally resilient means for displacement of each part with respect to said support means in the direction of the axis of the part while preventing displacement in any direction perpendicular to the axis of said part, and said support means for said two parts being secured to said rigid frame in the same consecutive order as the two parts taken in a direction along the longitudinal axis of the end heads and intermediate bodies.

2. An open cartridge as claimed in claim 1, in which said longitudinally resilient means include longitudinal compression springs.

3. An open cartridge as claimed in claim 2, in which said longitudinal compression springs are coil springs.

4. An open cartridge as claimed in claim 1, in which each of said two parts of said gimbal coupling is provided with stops limiting the relative angular displacement of said two parts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1885 Goodwin 243- 7/1890 Leake 243-35 

